Chaos and transient chaos in an experimental nonlinear pendulum

Pendulum is a mechanical device that instigates either technological or scientific studies, being associated with the measure of time, stabilization devices as well as ballistic applications. Nonlinear characteristic of the pendulum attracts a lot of attention being used to describe different phenomena related to oscillations, bifurcation and chaos. The main purpose of this contribution is the analysis of chaos in an experimental nonlinear pendulum. The pendulum consists of a disc with a lumped mass that is connected to a rotary motion sensor. This assembly is driven by a string–spring device that is attached to an electric motor and also provides torsional stiffness to the system. A magnetic device provides an adjustable dissipation of energy. This experimental apparatus is modeled and numerical simulations are carried out. Free and forced vibrations are analyzed showing that numerical results are in close agreement with those obtained from experimental data. This analysis shows that the experimental pendulum has a rich response, presenting periodic response, chaos and transient chaos.